Oxfam, Barnardo’s and Salvation Army issue update as report warns of charity shop closures

Some of the UK’s leading charity shops have not ruled out further store closures this year. A recent report from the Charity Retail Association (CRA) said some of the nation’s biggest charity shops are set to follow Scope in shutting stores in 2025.
Scope, a disability charity, announced the closure of 77 of its 138 stores across the UK earlier this year due to financial struggles. According to the CRA report, other UK retailers said that “this is the worst time for trading they have ever encountered” and shops would “unlikely come out of this 100% unscathed”. The Express has since spoken to a number of the nation’s biggest charity shops, including Barnardo’s, Age UK, Salvation Army, the British Heart Foundation and Oxfam, to see if they had plans on closing stores during the remainder of this year.